"NOBODY'S A NATURAL BORN DANCER"THOUGHTS ON DANCING
Rusty Frank, October 23, 2007

People often say to me, "Rusty, dancing is easy for you! You're a natural born dancer." At this point, I have to do everything in my power to not:

1. Laugh out loud

2. Go into a mighty rage.

Why, you ask, would I have either of these reactions? The answer is easy. I was definitely NOT a natural born dancer.

If I was a natural born anything, it was a natural born klutz!

So when I hear "Rusty, dancing is easy for you! You're a natural born dancer," which is at least once a week from new students or dance hopefuls, I really want to burst out laughing at how absurd that comment is, especially for me.

The reason I have the second reaction, the one of impending rage, is that I want to blurt out, "How can you say that? Don't you have any idea of the amount of time, sweat, tears, joy, aggravation, elation, etc., that I have put into dancing just to manage to get where I am? By saying I'm a "natural born dancer" they are taking away all those hours, hours, hours, years, and years that I have put into dancing.

Of course, I will say that I am a natural born optimist, and that sure helped. Even as a little girl, I just attacked with gusto anything I wanted to do, even though I was rarely really good at anything when I started. I just had that "stick-to-it-ness". Thank goodness!

As you can see by my recital clip... I was definitely NOT a Natural Born Dancer, and it's a good thing I started dancing at 6 years old, because it was going to take a LONG, LONG time before I got good at it!

So, when people say, "Rusty, dancing is easy for you! You're a natural born dancer" I control myself and smile and say, "Naw. Nobody's a natural born dancer. We all have the same path to become a dancers and that's simply the time we put into it. Dancing is a journey, not a destination. So enjoy the journey... as you'll always be in it."

RUSTY'S DANCE RECITAL -- AGE 7
IF YOU NEEDED PROOF -- HERE IT IS!
I WAS DEFINITELY NOT A NATURAL BORN DANCER!

IRA GLASS' ON BEING CREATIVE

This is one of the greatest talks about creativity I've ever heard. He really hits the nail on the head with this brief explanation why it's hard to stick with something, like dancing, until you get good. Watch it, and just substitute the word "dancing" and see how it works.